So I was getting ready to reread Don Quijote (1605)(Miguel
de Cervantes 1547-1616)(see Orrin's review)
in the excellent Burton Raffel translation and as I was looking for information
about the book and author, saw repeated references to Fielding's Joseph
Andrews. I'd read his Tom Jones a couple of years ago
and found it kind of tough sledding, but when I stumbled upon this one
at a library book sale for a quarter, it seemed a stroke of destiny.

The parallels with Don Quijote are readily apparent. First
of all, the book consists of a series of humorous travel adventures; second,
the travellers involved seem too innocent to survive in the harsh world
that confronts them. When Joseph Andrews, the naive footman of Lady
Booby, deflects the amorous advances of both her Ladyship and Slipslop,
the Lady's servant, he is sent packing. Upon his dismissal, Joseph,
along with his friend and mentor Parson Adams, an idealistic and good-hearted
rural clergyman, who essentially takes the physical role of Sancho Panza
but the moral role of Quijote, sets out to find his beloved but chaste
enamorata, Fanny Goodwill, who had earlier been dismissed from Lady Booby's
service as a result of Slipslop's jealousy. In their travels
they are set upon repeatedly by robbers, continually run out of funds and
Adams gets in numerous arguments, theological and otherwise. Meanwhile,
Fanny, whom they meet up with along the way, is nearly raped any number
of times and is eventually discovered to be Joseph's sister, or maybe not..
The whole thing concludes with a farcical night of musical beds, mistaken
identities and astonishing revelations.

I've seen this referred to as the first modern novel; I'm not sure why,
in light of it's obvious debt to Cervantes. But it does combine those
quixotic elements with a seemingly accurate portrayal of 18th Century English
manners and the central concern with identity and status do place it squarely
in the modern tradition.

At any rate, it is very funny and, for whatever reason, seemed a much
easier read than Tom Jones. I recommend it unreservedly.